Flightblog

Lesson #10 - Look Outside...Fly the Airplane

Fletch called me on the way to the airport this morning at 7:30. He had the flu. I wished him good health and reminded him to drink plenty of fluids and get plenty of rest (I'm sure he's hearing that from everyone).

Fortunately for me, John Muralt (Chief CFI and Owner of Maui Aviators) had mentioned to me last week that he wanted to fly with me soon and see where I'm at. Today was the day.

Flying with John was really, really good. He was totally casual about things...left his door open while we taxied. When I discovered that my laminated checklist was missing from the airplane, he said 'no worries, we'll just have CIGARs'.

Controls - Free, full travel and correct
Instruments - Engine- and flight instruments, altimeter
Gasoline - Fuel-Selector, Fuel-Pump
Attitude - Flaps and Trim set
Runup - Engine run-up, magneto check

I missed the ammeter test, but John caught it before we taxied.

I still like having a checklist and will always have one, but being able to fly without it was pretty liberating and just sort of set a casual tone for today's lesson. I relaxed.

We got clearance and flew the pattern on runway 5. I had the best landings I've had yet, even though my pattern work was sloppy. John kept telling me, 'Look outside, fly the airplane'. I realized how fixated I get on the instruments and how I don't fly the airplane, I fly the instruments. He kept telling me to just focus on the sight picture for everything: climb, bank angle, straight and level, glide slope, airspeed. Look outside and fly the airplane.

I had a much easier time staying on the centerline and flying smooth. My airspeed wavered a lot but the flying was really smooth. I was especially pleased with holding the nose off the ground after touchdown. We had some wind, so as the plane slowed, it was really easy to keep the nosewheel floating by holding back elevator. A couple of touch and goes we never even let the nosewheel touch the pavement...just powered up, raised the flaps and took off again.

I logged 10 (John used the Hobbs meter to count my landings, lol) but think it was more like 11 or 12 landings.

In our post-flight debriefing he made it sound like he thinks I'm ready to solo. So, pray for good weather on the 17th...it's an auspicious day for flight!

11 or 12 in 1.1

Posted by johnpeace at December 15, 2003 08:37 PM